What is it?
Square Enix has dubbed this iOS port a “Solo Remix.” While the original game had players controlling actions on separate screens, the update retools the combat system for single-screen play. A sync system is introduced in which you no longer control your partner character, but instead summon them for assisting attacks.
Combat plays out through a unique pin system. Discovering and equipping pins unlocks new abilities and bonuses. Pins can level-up alongside the characters themselves, opening up plenty of depth.
In battles the player select from the pins they've collected to plan a suite of attacks, some mapped to taps, swipes or unique patterns like circle-swipes. The system leads to frantic touch-powered battles. It all comes together when you're chugging through pins and syncing with your partner's attacks in sequence, building up to powerful focus attacks that generally clear the screen of lower-level baddies. When you're faced with a group of foes en masse things get visually and tactically hectic. Despite the madness, it's a barrel of fun. Bosses can get frustrating, but they're varied and sometimes involve some creative planning around a puzzle element.
Did we like it?
The World Ends with You was one of the more unique titles in the Nintendo DS catalog and all that praise is still relevant and applicable here. The switch to iOS doesn’t detract at all from the original, even with the dramatic change to combat. This port also adds tracks to the already-exceptional music and high definition art that looks gorgeous on Retina Display screens. So if you’re deciding between the iOS and DS versions it’s a pretty fair toss-up. Both are equally recommended.
The game itself is ridiculously complex in all the right ways. It politely pulls you in slowly, progressing through days on the in-game countdown clock while steadily introducing additional gameplay elements.
You’ll quickly hit a point when you realize you can level your pin’s combat abilities, but those pins are also being affected by what brands are hot right now in Shibuya. Add in that you can reduce your level using a slider to affect not just enemy difficulty but item drops and quantity, and random battles can be stacked in a combo-chain to increase difficulty and rewards. With all this (and more), it becomes clear that The World Ends with You is no typical JRPG.
The depth is intimidating, but it’s also rare for an iOS-title. It’s very appreciated. The controls are rock-solid, the music is awesome and there is an actual story with compelling characters to keep you entrenched. All these spot-on elements combine to make a fantastic, lengthy & stylish RPG adventure. Overall, they don’t make ‘em like this very often. It’s a true-blue innovation-filled Square Enix RPG that reminds you why it was, and sometimes still is, the king of the genre.
Should you buy it?
One of the only bad things to be said about The World Ends with You is the price-point. Square Enix doesn’t seem to concern itself much with the platform’s pricing norms, so the $17.99/$19.99 iPhone/iPad pricing is a little shocking. The price is steep for a single game on the platform but the fact that the game isn’t iPhone/iPad universal for that price is downright offensive.
You’ll also want to make sure you’re rocking at least an iPhone 4 or an iPad 2 or newer. Sadly, original iPad owners won’t be able to enjoy The World Ends With You.
Still, this is one of the best games of the DS canon and its iOS asking price is still less expensive than the DS cart. Ignore the gouging and pick it up on iPhone or iPad to experience one of the more unique handheld role-playing games of the last decade.